This invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly to an air flow direction control apparatus, of which the construction has been improved for easy attachment and detachment of the air flow direction control blades relative to a housing.
As shown in FIG. 1, a prior art air conditioner has air suction holes 10 and an air discharge opening 11 on the front of its outer case 1. In the outer case 1, an evaporator 12 is provided for cooling the room air, while a fan 13 is provided for discharging the cooled air. Adjacent to the air discharge opening 11, a first air flow direction control apparatus 14 is installed for controlling the flow direction of the cooled air in left and right directions and a second air flow direction control apparatus 15 is installed for controlling the flow direction of the cooled air in up and down directions.
In such an air conditioner, room air is introduced into the air conditioner through the air suction holes 10 by the operation of the fan 13, and then cooled by the evaporator 12. It is finally discharged into the room through the air discharge opening 11. At this time, the direction of the discharging air is controlled by the air flow direction control apparatuses 14 and 15.
FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing a conventional air flow direction control apparatus 15. The air flow direction control apparatus 15 comprises first and second air flow direction control blades 20a, 20b which rotate in an up-and-down direction for controlling the air flow direction, and a housing 30 for receiving the air flow direction control blades 20a, 20b.
A plurality of hinge pins 21a, 22a, 23a are formed in a longitudinal direction at regular intervals on the inner wall of the first air flow direction control blade 20a. The hinge pin 21a on the right end of the blade 20a and the hinge pin 23a on the left end of the blade 20a extend outward away from the blade 20a, that is, in opposite directions to each other. The hinge pins 22a formed between the opposite ends of the blade 20a extend toward the left side of the blade 20a, as does the hinge pin 23a.
The second air flow direction control blade 20b also includes a plurality of hinge pins 21b, 22b, 23b similar in a similar manner to that of the first air flow direction control blade 20a.
In the air discharge opening 11, a plurality of brackets 31, 32, 33 are disposed perpendicularly to the blades 20a, 20b for rotatably supporting the blades 20a, 20b. Sets of hinge holes 41a, 41b and 42a, 42b and 43a, 43b are formed on the front edges of their respective brackets 31, 32, 33 for receiving the hinge pins 21a, 21b and 22a, 22b and 23a, 23b of the first and second air flow direction control blades 20a and 20b, respectively.
Accordingly, the first and second air flow direction control blades 20a, 20b are mounted on the housing 30 in such a manner that the hinge pins 21a, 22a, 23a of the first air flow direction control blade 20a are fitted into the hinge holes 41a, 42a, 43a, and the hinge pins 21b, 22b, 23b of the second air flow direction control blade 20b are fitted into the hinge holes 41b, 42b, 43b, respectively.
FIG. 6 shows the state of the hinge pins 21a, 22a, 23a in the first air flow direction control blade 20a after being fitted into the hinge holes 41a, 42a, 43a. The hinge pin 21a formed on the right end of the blade 20a is inserted into the hinge hole 41a towards the right side from the left inside wall of the bracket 31, while the other hinge pins 22a, 23a are inserted into the hinge holes 42a, 43a towards the left side from the right inside wall of their respective brackets.
The hinge pins 21b, 22b, 23b of the second air flow direction control blade 20b are fitted into the hinge holes 41b, 42b, 43b in the same manner as above.
However, in such a conventional air flow direction control apparatus, when the air flow direction control blades 20a, 20b are mounted in the housing 30, one side of the blades 20a, 20b, that is, the right side in FIG. 5, must be bent for insertion of the hinge pins in the hinge holes. This bending causes the assembling/disassembling works of the apparatus to be very inconvenient. This reason will be described in more detail below.
As shown in FIG. 6, the entire length VL of the blades 20a, 20b is longer by a distance 2 PL than the length BL between the brackets 31 and 33. Therefore, in order to mount the blade 20a in the housing 30, first of all, the right end of the blade 20a must be bent by at least a distance 2 PL to enable the hinge pins 22a, 23a to be aligned with the hinge holes 42a, 43a of the brackets 42, 43. The hinge pins 22a, 23a are then simultaneously inserted into their corresponding hinge holes 42a, 43a in a leftward direction. Finally, the hinge pin 21a is inserted into the hinge hole 41a.
Further, the blades 20a, 20b tend to easily get permanently bent out of shape because they are made from a flexible material like plastic. Accordingly, it is then difficult to align the hinge pins with the hinge holes, thereby causing troublesome assembling work.
Furthermore, after the first air flow direction control blade 20a has been mounted in the housing 30, the second air flow direction control blade 20b must also be assembled; however this must be done in a narrower air discharge opening 11 due to the presence therein of the blade 21a. Therefore, the assembling of the second blade 20b is more difficult.
The object of this invention is to provide an air flow direction control apparatus of an air conditioner, which can be easily and quickly assembled by improving the construction of the air flow direction control blade.